Short answer: Import and export bookkeeping in City of Industry builds landed cost container by container, records duty when goods actually enter U.S. commerce, and keeps each related company in its own books. Industry levies no license fee or license tax, so there is no city gross receipts figure to prepare. The effort goes into inventory, supplier deposits and intercompany balances instead.
What changes when the city charges no license tax
In the City of Los Angeles or Santa Monica, part of every year goes to working out how much revenue was earned inside city limits. An importer located in City of Industry skips that step. Industry lists no license or renewal fees and no license tax on its business license page, and it skips the yearly renewal most cities require.
That does not make the books simpler. It moves the attention. With no city figure to report, the numbers that matter are the ones your CPA, your lender and your customs broker ask about: inventory value, landed cost per unit, what you owe overseas factories and what each related company owes the others.
The license follows the company, so the books should too
Every business located in the city needs a City of Industry business license, which the city also calls a Use Permit. The city asks for a fresh license after a change of owner or business name, a move, or a new location opened within its limits. Applications are typed and emailed to the Planning Department.
For a trade business, those events usually show up in the ledger first. A new import entity, a second warehouse across town or a partner buyout each means a new file, new opening balances or a new class. We flag those changes at month end so the license paperwork and the books stay in step.
Foreign Trade Zone goods and the timing of duty
The city points businesses to a Foreign Trade Zone. CBP says goods inside a zone are not subject to U.S. duty while they stay there, and duty is settled when goods leave the zone for consumption in the United States. Goods shipped from a zone to another country can leave free of duty.
That timing changes how inventory is valued. Duty is not a cost of the whole container on the day it lands. It attaches to the units withdrawn into the U.S. market, on the entry your broker files for that withdrawal. Units re-exported from the zone carry their freight and handling cost, but no U.S. duty.
Whether a zone fits your business, and how admissions and withdrawals are filed, is a question for your customs broker and the zone operator. We record what they bill and report.
What we track for an Industry importer
- Each container as its own record, with the factory invoice, freight, drayage and broker fees attached.
- Units held in a zone kept apart from duty-paid stock, so inventory shows what has and has not been entered.
- Duty posted from each entry summary to the units it covers, not spread evenly across the month.
- Export sales tagged by destination country, with proof of shipment kept beside the invoice.
- Separate books for the importing company, the selling company and the company that holds the building, with rent and loans matched on both sides.
- Resale certificates on file for wholesale buyers, because state sales tax rules still apply where the city charges nothing.
A typical cleanup: duty booked on goods that never entered
Picture a furniture importer in City of Industry that stores part of each shipment in a zone warehouse. Some pieces are withdrawn for buyers in California and Texas. Others are sold to a retailer in Mexico and leave the zone for the border. For a year, the bookkeeper estimated duty for every container on arrival and added it to inventory. Stock was overstated, the Mexico sales showed thin margins, and the duty account never agreed with the broker's bills.
We rebuilt each container from the broker's entry papers. Duty went only to the units withdrawn into U.S. commerce, on the dates of those entries. Re-exported pieces kept their freight and handling cost and lost the estimated duty. Once inventory tied to the zone operator's report and the warehouse count, the owners could compare margin per piece for each channel on equal terms.
How we start
- Map the companies We list each entity, its address in the city and whether it buys, imports, sells or owns property.
- Gather the shipment trail Broker entry papers, zone reports if you use a zone, freight bills and factory invoices for the open months.
- Rebuild by container Landed cost is set one container at a time, and supplier deposits are cleared against final bills.
- Close every month Inventory ties to the warehouse or zone report, intercompany balances agree, and you see margin by product line.
Questions
Do I need a new City of Industry license for a second warehouse?
The city says a new license is needed when you open another location in the city, change the owner or name, or move. The city charges no fee for it.
Does a Foreign Trade Zone mean we never pay duty?
No. CBP says duty is paid when goods leave the zone for U.S. consumption, while goods exported from the zone can leave without U.S. duty. Your customs broker handles the filings.
Our trucking contractor is based outside the city. Does it need an Industry license?
Per the city, an outside contractor with no Industry location that just performs work there is exempt from the city license.
Can you work from the zone operator's inventory reports?
Yes. We tie the books to those reports each month, next to your own warehouse counts, and list any units that do not agree.